FEW SELECTED CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK ENTITLED 'THE HAPPINESS CODE'

7.Is a Poor Person Unhappy?

Poverty is related to discomfort but poverty is not related to happiness. Happiness may prevail in a poor family also, because it depends on the state of mind and pattern of thinking. It is not necessary that a poor person has to be unhappy. There was a couple,, both of them were IAS officers and the wife was 2-3 years older than the husband. Due to her seniority in service the husband had an inferiority complex and both of them were posted in the same department. They used to engage themselves in ruthless quarrel everyday and at the end of the week they used to stay away from each other.
In the same office one clerk was there. He was blessed with a loving wife and two cute kids. He used to stay in the quarters within the campus. Every morning he used to take care of his small garden, then he used to take part in cooking along with his better half and literally he used to enjoy cooking. Every Sunday the whole family used to go to theatre for enjoying the current movie in the town. Once in a month they used to go to the nearby restaurant for having a change of taste.
They used to do many small and simple things what you and I can easily do but rarely think of doing them viz: listening to music, enjoying home made foods, taking care of puppies. Are these things hard? Not at all, but they require a tranquil and unconditioned mind.
There was a family friend of those two officers and I knew him. I came to know everything from him only. From this particular incident one inference can be drawn, that a poor person is not necessarily unhappy. As I told earlier in this book, happiness is a state of mind; it is not a function of your post, power and position.


8. Are the Rich People Happy?

Rich people are rarely happy, because their life style is very complicated. They are miles apart from a simple life. Simple life style and happiness have a hand-to-hand relation. Rich people often possess several artificiality and they are misunderstood. Their affluence and opulence can’t make them amiable. They rarely possess a relation with a simple life style and they are divorced from reality. They can’t forget that they are rich and that mind-set creates the biggest barrier from being happy. While co-coordinating with others they can’t be friendly from their heart. Due to lack of proper co-ordination most of the time they feel very lonely. Since they can’t be happy alone they can’t be happy together.
Most of the time rich people do too many mistakes for doing too many businesses at a time and it leads to unhappiness. Due to this attitude of doing too many things together their efforts are scattered and their attention is destroyed. Wherefrom they will get happiness?
In the recent past in a very big business family of India there was dispute between two brothers over the shares of the paternal property and they divided their complete asset and separated from each other. Is it richness or sadness? The paternal property, which separates two brothers, can’t be considered as a  property, it is poison. Is it richness, which breaks the bond between two brothers? Is that property worth which injects quarrel, tension, violence, turbulence and disturbance within a family?
Unhappiness and richness are having very strong relation. Most of the rich persons are unhappy and in most of the cases they are all self-created unhappiness. Most of the rich persons are very alone and their loneliness corrodes their mind from inside, but due to their crystallized ego they can’t share their grief with others. Rich persons are compared with a caged tiger. Their energies don’t get proper outlet and turned to depression. Have you ever seen any beggar committing suicide but in rich class there are numbers of cases of suicide.
Due to the ego people can’t express their feelings. In this world you must have at least few friends to whom you can canalize your sorrow, joys, feelings and most of the time that friend can be your spouse only. But in this greed based world sacred things like marriage is also turned to a business deal. But in high society in seventy percent cases the relation between the husband and wife is strained. They don’t even believe each other. Being the richest person of the world if one needs to disbelieve his spouse, what can be sadder than that? Now the question comes; during the moment of distress, pain and agony to whom should one report? Obviously one is not supposed to canalize his feelings and emotions to a stranger. In today’s world many rich persons are waiting just for a single phone call or an e-mail of two lines from their near and dear. But with rapid civilization we became so uncivilized we don’t even bother to care for those, who are eagerly waiting for us. The faster the communication will be more crude the attitude of the people will be. For an octogenarian father the value of a phone call is not calculated in terms of money, it is considered in terms of values and emotions. For you a phone call to your old father is a matter of few dollars but for the old father the values are measured in terms of something else, which is priceless.
There is a neglected class of very rich parents who are very alone. They got everything in life except care. Due to frustration they are internally corroded and if we don’t become serious then the history will be repeated in due course of time. Money can treat a wound but not the wound of one’s soul. This is the reason because of which rich persons are unhappy most of the time. More money loses the human bonding.


13.Music and Happiness

From my experience and faculties of observations I concluded that happiness has a great relation with music. Once one doctor was playing some very beautiful tunes of an African folk to some of his patients of hypertension. He continued it for two hours. The blood pressures of all the patients were measured before they listened to the tune and after the completion f the music session again the blood pressure of all the patients were measured. It was observed that there was a significant change and improvement in the blood pressure measured by the doctor. It is only due to the soothing effect of the music. Blood pressures of all the patients were drastically reduced.
You also must have observed the soothing effect of music. When you are not in a very good mood, then if you listen to a good tune your mind becomes relaxed. Music soothes our soul. Personally speaking everyday I get up at 5.30 in the morning and from 5.30 to 8.30 I pursue my hobby. My hobby is writing books. This book is also one of the books, which is created out of my hobby. During those three hours I am accompanied by music. It motivates me and soothes my inner being. You must have observed many people to keep car stereo on through out the span of their journey. Do they listen to it with equal concentration in all the moments? Not at all, but the continuous music keeps their mind fresh through out the span of the journey. There are several sections of music. It may be second symphony of Mozart, tune of ABBA or Gazals of Mehdi Hassan. It is up to you, which music you want to listen.
Music and love are the only two things, which play miracle.  Once in my friend’s house I was listening to a soothing and heart touching tune and his dog was sitting by my side. Even the dog was completely engrossed into it. When the music was over, immediately the dog left the room. My friend told me, ‘With you the Gilu was also listening to it.’ I laughed it away.
For proving the authenticity of his statement again he played the same tune and Gilu appeared again in the room and occupied the same space on the carpet. The upward direction of his ears talked of his concentration.
It is proved that by the enormous power of music many-dreaded disease like depression can be controlled and minimized. For blood pressure many doctors recommend it. Actually one of the prime causes of blood pressure is stress. Music reduces the level of stress and help people to be relaxed. By music many problems can be solved. Whatever happens, one must listen to the music of his own choice at least one hour per day.



18.A Round in an Intensive Care Unit of a Hospital

Most of the people consider themselves as very unhappy, but how happy they are that can be easily felt if you just visit the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) of any city hospital. One of my friends has a peculiar habit. Whenever he feels depressed due to any reason he visits the casualty department of the Government hospital and seeing the pain, anxiety and agony of the people he gets rid of his depression.
Once one of my very close relatives was shifted to the ICU of a Pune based hospital just after he was operated for his fourth stage lung cancer. He was unconscious. I was by his side and I had a look at the other beds of the ICU. For me the whole ICU was nothing but a post-mortem in live condition. All the patients were either unconscious or in coma. Many of them were in ventilation and silently waiting for the last moments of their lives. How complicated the body functioning is; that can be only known if you visit an ICU. It is difficult to believe that a single body requires so many attachments for survival. Every patient seen by me was enveloped by different sets and combination of tubes and probes. Some was used for saline, some was for blood and others were used for oxygen and several other functions not even known to me.
While looking at beds suddenly my attention was drawn towards the last bed placed at the extreme left corner of the hall. By the side of the bed in a wooden stool a middle-aged lady was sitting and she was visibly morose and the patient was a small girl. Slowly I went there and enquired about the small girl. After knowing the fact I was crestfallen. It was horrifying to know this. Nothing can be sadder than that, not even death. The small girl of eight year was operated for her eye cancer. Whether she would survive or not was a different question, but for the sake of safety and to prevent cancer from spreading both her innocent eyes were removed. The child didn’t even know that she lost her complete vision for the rest of her life. Thick bandage covered both the eyes and she became completely blind. Though the sad news was not given to her to prevent her from being traumatized in her post operation period. That innocent girl was still hopeful about her vision. This is life. Are you still unhappy?
You are requested to place yourself not in the position of the small girl but place yourself in the place of her mother and then ask yourself, ‘Am I happy or not?’ Certainly you will get the answer of your question and I know what your answer is.



25.     Maintain Human Touch and the Ultimate Courtesy

In today’s city life we generally see off our guest from the landing of our flats only. We don’t even bother to accompany them till the parking zone of the society. We close the door even before the sound of their footsteps disappears. Once one of my friends came to see me from a distance of four hundred kilometres. In the evening when he was returning to Calcutta from my native place Uttarpara (Uttarpara is a small town located at a distance of ten kilometres from Calcutta. It is in the north of Calcutta).
I escorted him up to the railway station of Uttarpara in that winter evening. While boarding the train he asked me, ‘ You came up to the station for me!’ I replied, “My dear, if you can travel a distance of four hundred kilometres to see me, can’t I come four hundred metres from my home to have the last glimpse of yours?”
This is the essence of life. We must not have half-hearted gesture. One must involve himself in good deeds.
There was a famous Bengali actor; he never used to discriminate between the staffs in the shooting spot. In earlier days the actors used to have better quality food in the set and the other members used to get a very ordinary quality food. There was a vast difference between the quality of foods served to the actors and other members. That famous Bengali actor broke this age-old tradition and he started sharing the same food with other members of the set. This is called human touch. And no courtesy is beyond the human touch. Human touch is the ultimate courtesy. That actor is still considered as an icon in the film industry of West-Bengal, though he died nearly twenty-five years back. There are people who are continuously working in the back stage, without their co-operation no function can be successful. We must acknowledge their contribution in our creation. In this venture of writing books I am personally grateful not only to the publisher but also to the labours who helps the distributor in loading and unloading of the books.
Human relation is a function of human character. Human character is the foundation, on which everything depends. If the life is compared with a bridge then simplicity and generosity are its two abutments, Humanity is not only felt but also remembered by millions of people till the last day of their lives.

31.Touch the Soft Green Grass and the Fresh Dew Drops

Most of the time we go for holidaying abroad in some remote island but we ignore our own lawn of our own house. Have you ever looked at the green grass and the fresh dew drops in an autumn morning?  Probably not, because you think that; you don’t have the time. We purchase river-view apartments but we lack the mind-set to look at the river from the balcony of our apartment. We go by the names like river-view, park-view but rarely we care for the beauty of a river or park. Where is the time and intention to look at a river even for a couple of seconds? Money minded mind doesn’t have the mind set to look at the tranquil waves of a river. We try to enjoy mechanically and during holidays visit the distant places for the sake of enjoyment.  Indians go to Europe and Europeans come to India for enjoying holidays. Do you really require such long visits? Actually it is a question of self-ego. When we say to our colleagues in India that, ‘ I had a vacation in the Hawaii island’, then we are cared for and enjoy a suppressed pride.
Sea is same everywhere, whether it is Andaman or Hawaii. If any one is taken blind folded in seashore it will be impossible for him to locate the name of the sea beach. The property of the sea is same everywhere and the beauty is also more or less same everywhere. There is an ingrained belief in us; that other side of the river is greener. But the person who is in the opposite side also thinks in the same way. If you possess a proper mind-set then you will be in a position to enjoy your holidays in the close vicinity of your own city or village. Just in any morning get up, remove your shoes and touch the soft green grass gently have the feel and see the difference. Many times small and innocent grasshoppers are camouflaged within the grass. Please take care of them; they must not lose their valued existence under the pressure of your costly footwear. Look through the fresh dewdrops and you will see thousands of rainbows in miniature form. Is it not achievement?  Obviously yes. For enjoying the life one requires only clarity in his thoughts. You need not travel thousands of kilometres, because you need to find happiness in the courtyard of your house.
Most of us are in a highly confused state and till the end of our life we don’t even know what are the things to be done. Many of the times we do several things very mechanically. Fifty percent people do morning walk due to the advice of their physicians. Once a person becomes diabetic, he or she goes for morning walk very regularly. The pleasure of the walking becomes a tedious task for these people. They forget the basic meaning of the famous saying, ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’ In this age of cutthroat competition many diseases are invited just due to greed and jealousy. In this distorted age we salute a corrupt officer for his wealth and so-called position and power but when some of our colleagues gets some award out of his hard work and dedication we become jealous instantly. That jealousy corrodes our soul and invites various diseases like blood pressure, hypertension, and what not? Morning walk won’t help that group of people who are jealous of others. Your body can be detoxicated by medicine but how to detoxicate your mind? It can be only possible by the power of positive thinking. So first get rid of silly things and love the people and surrounding. You can’t deny the nature and folk by whom you are surrounded. If you deny, it will be your problem. Change of attitude is the prerequisite for having a happy life. A happy man doesn’t even know that he is happy but we the people can very easily make out whether a person is happy or not by his body languages and gestures. Do you think that a small child is aware of his innocence? No. That day will never come. A river doesn’t know the co-ordinate where it meets the sea. Try to attain the mindset of a child. For a child a small piece of glass and a costly diamond are having same value. But for the adult only the diamond is important. An adult mind considers the resell value not the beauty. For that adults are so unhappy in this world. Whenever you start counting and accounting you will be lost. An accounting mind can’t be happy, because their minds are preoccupied. For them life is a graph of time versus cost-benefit ratio. But in reality life is far bigger than this.


35. Story of a Person having Mentally Retarded Child

All the time I enjoy meeting jolly and jovial people, though in city life rarely we see a jolly person. One of my friends was in the Town Planning department of Govt. of Maharashtra and he was a class-I officer. In the same department another officer was there and he was very famous for his co-operative nature and positive minded attitude. He used to help everybody in and around him. Several times I listened about that gentleman from my friend. Once I wanted to see him. My friend expressed my desire to that gentleman. He became very happy and invited both of us in a Sunday morning for having a cup of tea. In the due date both of us visited his place. It was located at the out skirt of Pune city. We reached there and had a nice time. We discussed on various topics and before leaving his home I casually asked him, ‘What is the key to positive living and behaviour?’ He silently listened to me and requested both of us to accompany him to his bedroom. When we went there we became shell-shocked. One child was lying on the bed and he was mentally retarded. Even my friend didn’t know it. The gentleman looked at me and answered, “Professor, acceptance of all the tragedies of life is the key to positive living. He is my child and fourteen years old. By birth he is mentally retarded. I accepted this tragedy of life. For that small failures and set backs don’t disturb me. I am not touched by the small failures. I had two options, either to expose my grief and behave in an erratic manner with all or to accept the happenings of life and behave positively. I did the second one.”
We were crestfallen. The visit taught me a great lesson of life. I do hope and trust this particular narration will help you too; to accept small failures and loses of life.

37. Life is Very Small or Very Big; it is up to you.


For understanding life one has to understand himself. We must enjoy the life in totality. Enjoying life doesn’t mean to have a flit of luxury cars and to have more than one industry. Enjoying life means to take care of small and natural things of life. People go by flight all the time but rarely they know what is flying. Once in Juhu beach of Bombay one gas balloon seller was selling gas balloons of different colours and I was smoking and enjoying the series of waves of the Arabian Sea. Suddenly one idea struck my mind, I approached the balloon seller, purchased a dozen of balloon and tied them and ultimately released them.
Gradually the bunch of balloons raised height and within couple of seconds they occupied a very high co-ordinate in the blue sky above the blue ocean.
I realized the true meaning of flight. It was a free flight of a dozen of  balloons of different colours and it was a flight without belt. For purchasing a dozen of balloons I required only thirty-six rupees (less than even $1) but the pleasure derived out of them was worth million dollars.
So it is very clear that, it is your attitude, which gives you happiness and remember all the time that happiness can be derived only within small things celebrated in a big manner. On the contrary we celebrate big things in a small manner. Let me give a very good example. Once one of my Bengali friends has thrown a big party in the boat club of Pune. After couple of days he visited me and told the numbers of pegs consumed by each individuals. That gentleman threw the party but like a min minded creature counted the pegs consumed by each person. This type of attitude is bound to make one unhappy.
If you can’t afford then don’t throw party but with love you can give a glass of water. Do that whatever you can do unconditionally. Don’t do or try to do such things, which make you conditioned and preoccupied. Your attitude is responsible for your happiness and unhappiness, it is not the poverty or opulence.
On must give values to the little but valuable and priceless things of life viz: golden sunrise, chirping of birds, a peaceful and tranquil sea beach, nodding of the eucalyptus, a crescent moon, a glossy leaf, a hiding chameleon, the beautiful fragrance of champaks, the blue eyes of a baby, the innocent look of a small girl, the star spangled sky and little and gushy hilly brook.
If you take care of small and true things in life, your life will be eventful and meaningful, on the contrary if you only take care of the so-called big things viz: post, power, position, money then the true sense of life will be lost. There is a famous sayings in English, ‘Time is the greatest equalizer.’ I would like to say that, ‘Death is the greatest equalizer.’
Whether one is rich or poor, white or black, mal or female, literate or illiterate after the death all become same. The life is nothing but an opportunity and it is we who must understand how to use it. Generally people are not aware of two things. They don’t know how to spend money and how to spend life. One group saves money and spends life and another group run after money and spends life. In both the cases they give primary importance to wealth, not the life. Richness is a relative term, however rich you may be, you will be poor as compared to another group of people and the more rich a person becomes more disturbed he becomes. It is the law of nature. If you possess money more than you deserve then that will block one part of your brain.
I know one share broker. That time the facility of Internet was not there. Practically all the mornings of his life was wasted by reading the news of shares only.
A child musty be taught his limitations from the childhood only. As I told earlier, opulence can’t make one happy; it is your mind-set, which makes you happy.
Once I visited the zoo of Bombay with two senior faculties. All three of us went to Bombay for some official work and after completing the work one if the senior faculties gave the proposal of visiting the zoo. We accompanied him. After reaching there, the faculty who proposed the visit enjoyed thoroughly and all the time I appreciated his love for the animals and birds.
At the age of fifty-seven he had the mind-set to enjoy the companies of animals and birds. On the other hand another faculty sat in a corner and engaged himself in reading the financial express. There lies the difference. Even for couple of hours he was unable to separate himself from his obsession of stock market. So it is totally up to us. From which angle you see your life is the most important thing. Life is very big or small. If you view the number 6 from the opposite side it seems to be 9. So it is the way and angle from which you look towards life. Life is either very big or very small. Your life is in your hand. It is you who will decide whether to enjoy this life or waste this.


44.                                                  Enjoy this Moment Totally

In my forty-three years of life I saw many people and friends to plan for enjoyment. Once one of my colleagues told me, “I can enjoy when I shall have a good car and till my Ph.D. is over, I won’t purchase the car.” What a complicated mode of thinking!  How preoccupied he was! I didn’t reply but I understood that he would never be able to enjoy his life. Enjoyment can’t be conditioned and it can’t be co-related with some physical things. There is no guarantee whether tomorrow will be there or not in your life, but for that why to waste the costliest today. We become depressed over the past, plan for the future and the costliest present slips away and we are even unable to notice it. For common folk enjoyment is a thing which is supposed to take place in future. I heard many guardians to say to their children ‘Don’t play now, play after your examination gets over.’ What a wrong approach! Why not play this moment? Why not enjoy this moment? Think in a very simple way. People try to enjoy the life and plan for it in detail. For elaborative planning they fail to enjoy even a single day. You please think in the reverse way. Only enjoy this moment, don’t plan for enjoyment. Then enjoy the next moment, then enjoy the next to next moment, if you keep on doing so there will be a drizzle of enjoyment in your life. Life is nothing but the collective integration of the moments. He can enjoy a life, who can enjoy this present moment. If the seed is good the tree is supposed to be good. The result is obvious. So your life’s essence lies within the core and the present moment is the costliest gift to you. It is you who has to decide how to use that. However big the tree may be, the most important thing is the seed from which it is germinated. Concentrate at the root level; you will get the meaning of life. Bibliomaniacs are rarely happy, because they are proud of the numbers of books they have read and it gives birth to preoccupation and preoccupation is the gateway to an unhappy mind.
Once I told one of my students whatever happens my love and good wishes will be there by your side like an invisible shadow. It is the case with enjoyment. It is very much present in and around you. We need to discover it and take the true essence out of it.

55.Life is a Big Journey
“Life is a Challenge
Meet it
Life is a Struggle
Fight it
Life is a Sorrow
Overcome it
Life is a Gift
Accept it
Life is a Mystery
Unfold it
Life is a Chance
Utilize it
Life is a Journey
Complete it
Life is a Duty
Perform it
Life is an Opportunity
Take it
Life is a Problem
Solve it
Life is a Goal
Achieve it.”
-Anonymous

Life is a function of your mental climate. If your mental climate is turbulent then you are bound to be unhappy. Your happiness depends on your mind-set. When a great astronaut came from space he was surrounded by his fellow friends and they asked him whether he could meet God in the space or not?
He couldn’t reply but one famous philosopher explained it very beautifully. He told, “By exploring the outer world you can’t meet God, you need to dig your inner world, you can see God very much there.”
Lives of many persons are lost due to a single failure. They committed a single great mistake. They didn’t try for the second time and accepted their failure. They were talented but they failed to understand the true meaning of life. Life is a gift and we have a bad habit of preserving the gifts. Rarely we use the gifts given to us. We believe in show casing of the gifts instead of using it.
          Don’t preserve it; use it. If any one gives you a gift and finds you using that he becomes very happy. In the same way if God observes you using your life in the correct way he too becomes happy. Being a lazy and cynic person if you waste it God will be certainly unhappy with you.
One of my friends failed in the VISA interview while planning to go for USA. He failed for four times. All the time he says, ‘ I am a small person.’ He himself made him a small person. It is you who is the creator. It is the angle of projection. The length of the shadow of any object  depends on the location of the light, object and projecting angle. Your outer image is just like the shadow of any object.  It is only you who can give a proper shape to it.
In eastern world most of the people think that after attending the age of forty people should not try for anything. They consider the age of forty as the end of creativity. There was a professor colleague of mine. He once told me, ‘Our two-third life is over.’ I was surprised by this funny comment. I asked for the logic behind his statement. He replied, “All of us are in the wrong side of forty and the age of retirement is fifty-eight. So obviously our two-third life is lost.”
I was crestfallen after listening to his logic. For these types of people the age of fifty-eight is considered as the dead end. Probably they don’t know that people fought world war at the age of eighty. There is the burning example of an Indian painter who is still very active being a nonagenarian. The world famous author Nirad C  Chaudhari used to write regularly even when he was a centurion. So there are the visible examples, which prove that life is very big. Life can be compared with a stretchable rubber band and it is you who has to stretch it carefully. Life is nothing but the integrations of various small and big incidents. Only we need to do good and creative works. Everybody is given twenty-four hours per day irrespective of caste, creed and religion by the nature. For all of us it is not possible to devote more time for creativity but at least we need to give one hour per day for some creative thing. It will help us in cleaning the cobwebs of boredom, which is an integral part of life. Creativity adds colour and new dimensions to life. Regular one-hour means in 20 years 7300 hours. It is more than sufficient time to master over a subject for the sake of pleasure and based on that you will be able to enjoy your advanced ages.

57.Care for People

Once I found a young person throwing the outer cover of a banana in the busy road after peeling it. I politely told him, ‘My boy, there are people who will use this road. Just ask yourself honestly, what is your basic role in the society.’ He immediately realized his fault. He collected the banana skin and put it in to a roadside bin. A line of polite counselling solved the matter. If I would have very rough with him, he wouldn’t have accepted any logic. Because angry mind doesn’t accept logic, it wants to fight.
We are not only surviving for ourselves but also for others. My father often used to say, ‘Take proper care while you are in the road. Mind that there are few pairs of eyes who are waiting eagerly for your return and they are dependent on you.’
Here dependence means not only financial dependency, it may be psychological dependency and in most of the cases it is emotional dependence. How true the statement is! I realized the meaning of this statement more and more with each passing years of my life. We got only one life and we must spend it meaningfully. One must share his stored energy not only for him but also for others. One must discover the dormant talent within him and use it for the benefit of the people in and around him. It is very easy to eat everything alone but it is a virtue to share our food with others.
When I was admitted in the Regional Engineering College, Durgapur, then in one evening I was very hungry and I didn’t have even a single biscuit with me. It was raining heavily and it was not possible to go to the nearby canteen. During that time I saw one of my classmate and he came to know that I was hungry. He offered me few biscuits and didn’t keep a single one in his store. I asked him, ‘What will you eat afterwards? He smilingly replied, “As long as it is there both of us will share it and when they will be finished neither I shall take anything, nor you will.”
I was amazed and touched by this simple reply. What a simplicity! In today’s world this type of student is rarely found. For these change of attitude students are not responsible, the selfish texture of the society is completely responsible. Within only twenty-four years (1982-2006) the mind-set of the people went through lot of changes.
One must be a person with true commitment and tender courtesy. Once a poor lady came to a saint and requested the saint to advise her child not to consume sugar. The saint told her to come after one month. After one month the lady came with her child. The saint saw the lady, recognized her and advised her to come after three months. The lady was slightly annoyed but didn’t say anything.  After three months when she came again then she was told to come after one fortnight. The lady got angry but the lady didn’t bother and smiled. Just after one fortnight again the lady reported to the saint with a hopeless mind. But this time the saint advised the child not to consume sugar. The saint talked about the harmful effect of sugar. The lady candidly asked the saint, “Sir, you could have given the same advice before three and half months, when I came to you for the first time. Why did you harass us for such a simple reason again and again?”
The saint smiled and replied, “ My dear, I took three and half months to separate myself from the bondage of sugar.”
After listening to this the lady was speechless. She realized that to break the bridge between preaching and practicing the saint required that time. She was highly satisfied and convinced with the reply.
Before giving the advice the saint took adequate care, so that there would be no gap between his preaching and practice. This indicates that the saint cared for his people.
Use all the time good and sweet words. They are like balms used for healing pains. They pacify the inner being. Very few of us are having the proper idea about the strengths of words. If you are good you can motivate others by your sphere of influence. Physical arresting is of no use.

59.Have a Love Oriented Living

Always keep a large picture in your mind while dealing with people. If you know how to love and how to laugh then you will have mastery over the art of living. A love oriented living makes you happy from inside. Once I was coming out of the Calcutta Metro station. It was raining moderately, I found a college girl waiting silently, she didn’t have umbrella or raincoat to guard the rain, but from her body language it was visibly clear that she was in hurry. I called her and shared my umbrella till I escorted her to the nearby bus stand. While leaving she thanked me and told, ‘Sir, for me your right side is completely drenched.’ I replied, ‘My dear, its O.K. But you won’t miss your lecture.’ She left with a glint in her eyes. Still I remember that innocent look of a college girl. Love people and love has the power to transform bad people also.
Love is the most powerful force in the world. Influence of one human mind over another human mind is the greatest influence in the world and that is only possible by love alone.  Love is recommended and it can erase all the misgivings and it can make your mental climate soothing. Love is the ultimate gateway to the path of emancipation.

60.Gift a Sapling, not a Bouquet

Once I was in an international conference. The topic of the conference was ‘Appropriate Waste Management and Control of Environmental Pollution’
It was a conference for three days. During that three days span of the conference I scrupulously observed the behaviour of all the participants and the members of the organizing committee. There were participants from all corners of the globe. I found many of them throwing plastic coffee mugs after having the coffee. In the last day the valedictory function was there. It was the fag end of the valedictory function. It was the time for the vote of thanks. Suddenly I requested the authority to allow me to express few lines. They gladly welcomed me in the stage.
There were dignitaries on the dais and all of them were presented with big bouquets made of very costly flowers. I went to the podium and made few statements. I remember one of my statements till date and it is given below.
“ My dear audience, we claim that we are environmentalists, we claim that we love the nature. If it is so, then what for I am seeing so many bouquets in the dais in and around me? Till this morning these flowers were alive in the lap of mother earth. Only for the mere formality these bouquets are made and presented. The painful thing is that the dignitaries will abandon them while checking out from the hotels to get rid of excess luggage. Probably these beautiful flowers will be dumped in the bin of the hotel within few hours.”
My statement was so genuine and heart touching that the whole audience was moved by the statement. One lady was there from Egypt. She was visibly moved. She came forward and promised that she would never accept any flower or bouquet as a gift in her lifetime.
The moment any flower is plucked the refulgent beauty is lost forever and it becomes dead. In my life I decorated the picture gallery of my mind with various incidents, which impressed me.
One should allow the flowers to have a natural death in the trees itself.
Once I was seeing off one of my friends. Our hearts were full of love and eyes were dim with tears. At the ultimate moment of departure I wanted to give him something. I gifted him a sapling of merry gold. After couple of months he sent me an E-mail containing an attachment. When I saw the attachment found a jpg file i.e. picture file. The moment I clicked it; found a beautiful tree full with marigolds. Below those flowers my friend underlined one line. He wrote, ‘Could you recognize the sapling given by you?’ The small line touched my heart.

63.Don’t Save Money at the Cost of Spending Life

“You may not be able to afford two Mercedes, but see that you are able enough mentally to enjoy two ice-creams. Your mind must not be eclipsed by misery and min-minded attitude. ”
-Arati Mukhopadhyay
How true the above saying is! These two lines are the most important counselling I had from my mother in my childhood. Her basic teaching was not to be a miser. I have seen the middle class people and their mentality from very close angle. Most of them are obsessed with male child. Once in an ice-cream parlour I found a middle aged middle class person handing over one ice cream to his small son. He was hardly five years old. But his small girl accompanied the man. She was about 7-8 years old. She was slightly elder than the boy. The girl was looking at the ice cream. She was yet to reach her teens. She was denied of ice cream, only because she was a girl.
There are people who admit their girls in vernacular medium and sons in English medium schools. At the very starting if the guardians start doing these types of cheap things based on gender bias then how they can expect their family to be happy?
These types of people don’t present ice creams to the girl child but for showing to the society purchase car and most of the time the car is used as a show piece and it is covered carefully for most of the time of the year.
People save money at the cost of very small pleasures and at the end of the life they spend their stored wealth in hospitals. These types of people don’t realize even the importance of medical insurance. They don’t know the art of living and more truly speaking they don’t want to know it. For these people medical insurance means wastage of money. They are internally saddened at core and testy. One must have a spacious imagination for understanding the life. These people save money and count interest but they are not the people to enjoy the blue sky and the blue ocean. Rarely this people look at a yellow crescent moon in a rainy night. Their whole mind is occupied by greed and jealousy. Everybody can’t be happy. Happiness is not for all. If one wants to be happy he has to stay away from certain things.
I want to share one more experience. There are people who don’t even know how to spend but they know how to earn money by illegal means. Corrupt people possess huge wealth and they own big farmhouses but rarely they carry fruits for their children.
I know many people who are having big farmhouses and at the weekend they visit those places just for the sake of enjoyment and merriment. They don’t even go to the adjacent farms. They confine themselves within the four walls with drinks and other amenities for their so-called enjoyment and entertainment. They believe that comfortable living is only possible in  confinement. For them farmhouse is a pastime at the weekend.
If you don’t adore your own child; who else will adore him? In many rich families children are more attached to the governess than the parents. It is natural. The governess gives time to the children and no one in this world can purchase the value of time by money. The rich parents don’t have the time to meet the children and the same parents expect love, respect and duties from their children at their advanced age. Can money purchase everything? It can only purchase the purchasable commodities. If you accumulate the total wealth of the earth and order a bud to bloom within five minutes, will it do? You know the answer. Nature takes its own time for all the activities.
Once in a shop one small child was hankering after a chocolate, but his father didn’t pay heed to the child’s request. I couldn’t resist myself. I requested the gentleman to purchase a chocolate for the child. He replied, ‘Sir, if I do this his habit will be bad.’ I immediately replied, ‘ Sir, just now in front of your child you purchased and lit a cigarette. Is it a good habit?’ Till my first question he was O.K. But the moment I put the logic he became furious and vehemently replied, ‘Who are you to plead for my child, you scoundrel?’ I didn’t mind. Because his ego was hurt, for that he was angry. He was angry with himself, not with me. That is the ultimate truth. He again insulted me ruthlessly but I was inert. I knew I might have faced insult and I was prepared for that. I was not ready to accept any of the words said by him. People in and around me were seeing the fun in the typical Indian style.
Lastly when the man was leaving with his child I politely approached him and said,
“Sir, I am very sorry, but I want to say a last sentence. Today this child is very small, but after twenty years he will be a gentleman. That day also he will be your child. But that time even if you purchase chocolate for him, he won’t accept it. He will consider the deed of yours as a childish one. Everything changes with space and time. For a balloon seller balloons are his source of bread but for his child they are things for enjoyment. But the child is taught not to touch them. Because his appetite will be compensated by those balloons. I could have easily purchased chocolates for this child, probably you wouldn’t have liked that, for that I requested you.”
God knows what happened by this few lines of counselling. The gentleman said sorry, went ahead and purchased ten chocolates and offered one to his son and second one to me. While accepting the chocolate I requested him to have a chocolate, because the sweet taste of chocolate will bring him back to his happy days of childhood.

65.Ignite the Dormant Spark Within you

Once one of my students was very depressed and I wanted to motivate him. I called him in my quarters in the evening. I was alone in the quarters. In the evening he came. In one side of the room I kept one big earthen pot in an inverted position. I suggested him to lift the pot and place it at the extreme right hand corner of the room. Initially he was a bit confused, shy and frightened. But I commanded and he lifted the earthen pot. The moment the pot was lifted a giant sized lizard came out of it [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]and ran way very fast to one of the corners of the room. It’s me who covered the lizard by that earthen pot. Generally lizards never run so fast. The student asked me why he was told to lift the pot.
I answered, “To show you the strength of a released energy I intentionally kept the lizard within the pot for you. Whenever any thing is unlocked it flows with high velocity. It may be a lizard or it may be stored water from the reservoir of a dam or kids of the kindergarten.”
The power of any energy is felt in true sense when it is unlocked. I wanted to show him that.  Unless one observes personally the stored energy to be released from the locked condition he can’t get the idea about the strength of it. Now question would be there why I wanted to give this example. I wanted to show him the example of the flow of stored energy. Within each of us there is a dormant volcano and it needs to be unlocked. It is you only who can unlock the dormant volcano within you. You can be your best motivator. There was a time when I was not even confident enough to introduce myself to anyone even in my mother tongue Bengali. But today I address the mass in English. How it is possible? Do you think; anybody helped me? No. I myself was my motivator. In the wee hours when the world enjoys a deep slumber I used to practise public speaking in English in front of a broken mirror in my hostel bathroom. Be self-made. You are the lock and you are the key too. Do work in time and have proper time management for having a successful life coupled with happiness.

66.Respect Other Religions

A man gets his own religion by birth and one in a crore changes it in his or her lifetime. Religion is just like birth; it is not in your hand. The moment you are born it is fixed. In this world so many clashes are there due to ego-clashes between the communities of different religions. God created river, we created pipe, God created flowers, we manufactured plastic flowers, God created human being and we created religions. Our creations are the sole cause of our destructions. It is a very sensitive issue. I found people to discare and disrespect other religions than his own. I saw people to disrespect their own parents but if you say single words about anyone’s parents he will be furious. It is not that they love their parents; it is because his ego gets hurt. It is the case with religion. In many countries more than fifty percent people are illiterate. Do you think they understand the meaning and differentiation of religions? They are only taught to hate other religions. Being a Hindu by birth I authentically comment that very few Hindus know the proper meaning of Hinduism. Very few Hindus are aware of the origins of Hinduism. But they hate other religions. Bad things need not be taught, it is learnt automatically. How many of us do the transplantation of the good things of other religions to our own religion. Religion is mostly used by the politicians for their own benefit. They advise two different religions not to involve in clashes and by saying so they remind them that they are different. By reminding it the politicians set fire to ignite their dormant spark and fighting spirit. After setting fire they try to sprinkle water and show how great they are. For understanding religion we must have an overall idea about the major religions of the world. Once one of my relatives commented, ‘Chicken is a third class dish.’ I asked him, ‘Have you ever tested it in your life?’ He answered, ‘I am a pure vegetarian, knowing that why you are asking this question like a stupid?’ I replied, ‘It’s not me, you are behaving like a stupid, because without knowing the inside you can’t comment on the whole thing.’
Sam thing happens in religion. We are only labeled as Hindu, Muslim, and Christian and generally taught by our ancestors to hate other religions. Once one of my Muslim friends visited our house and he had tea with me. Afterwards I found a cup was kept separately in one corner of the kitchen. I came to know that it was the act of my father. Because it was the same cup used by my Muslim friend.
I didn’t say anything to me father, because a mind which is conditioned for more than sixty-five years doesn’t accept any logic. Only I was sad. You can separate the cup but can you separate yourself from the roads and runways used by different religions. For understanding religions one requires deep study, impeccable politeness and then only he will be able to understand the religions and spiritual landscape dotted with the views and thoughts of different religions. After in depth study of different religion I authentically comment there is no religion in the world, which teaches people to hate people. It’s the people who distort the true meaning of religion and go for religious clashes. How unfortunate it is! Have you ever thought in animal world there is no religious clash? Are they not happier than us?
The moment you start respecting other religions you start to be religious in true sense. In my life I did that. Once one of my Muslim friend smilingly said, ‘Salam Aliqum’. I too replied immediately ‘Aliqum Salam.’ He started looking at me in wonder. Probably he didn’t expect this courtesy from me.All the time I greet people of different religion in their style, because it adds flavour in our relationship. The worst part of anmy religion is rigidity. We should be too some extent flexible. Being a Hindu by birth I visit churches. Because the sanctity of the church adds catholicity in my mind. There is a beautiful quotation.
“ Praise God, when you feel happy
Seek God, when you feel sick
Worship God, when you feel quiet
Trust God, when you feel disturbed
And Love God all the time”
                                      -Anonymous
Most of the people of this world follow the above lines knowingly or unknowingly. You may not follow the first four lines but you can definitely follow the last lines. For loving God you need to love people and for loving people you have to stop discrimination among religions. I do the same thing. If I can do, why not you? If people start respecting the values of other religions the happiness will be showered on earth.
68.Optimal Ambition

Today a great cross section of the world is suffering from depression and it is mostly self-created, because they are over ambitious. I would give a very simple example. You must have found that in any election whether it is a corporation election, state assembly election or parliament election; the size of the ballot paper is increasing day by day due to more numbers of contestants. It clearly indicates that the people are more and more power crazy with each passing year, though they don’t deserve power. They want to make their entries to the legalized world of corruption through the gateway of politics. The moment they face defeat they become depressed. Once I asked a contestant of an election, why he wanted to fight the election. He replied, ‘I want to serve the society.’ I didn’t reply but for serving the society to contest the election is not necessary. Ambition means hope in disguise. Ambition is not a bad thing, but the fruit of ambition lies in our tomorrows. For getting those fruits we must not waste our present. One must have optimal ambition. A man who knows his true desire and the limitations is a happy man. It may take ten years to reach your goal but it doesn’t mean for all the ten years you will be unhappy. Please note one thing, life is a path, the starting point is birth and the last terminus is death. Every moment we are approaching towards death by one second. Rarely we think of it. When we approach death, why not to approach it joyously. There are thousands of celebrities who are already dead, do you have the time to look at their marble statues for couple of seconds. Have you seen the old oil paintings of great persons, which are faded with time? For a small kid great great grandfather, great grandfather and grandfather all are same. Because in this world of cruelty only his own father is meaningful for him, because his father is the support to the child. To a child historical importance doesn’t have any value. For him, he is great who gladly gives him chocolates and toys .
The basic thing in life is enjoyment.







                                                                                                                                                                            There are many talented people, philosophers, thinkers, scientists who rarely enjoyed their life. These people rarely laughed. In today’s mechanized world we need to visit laughing club for recreation. Why can’t we laugh with our family members? That is a very important and legitimate question. We must have optimal ambition.
I know a senior faculty who refused to take the post of the Head of the Department in a famous Engineering College of India. His vision was very clear. He knew his limitations. Administrative post can be compared with chilly sauce.  The power is compared with the taste and the irritation out of it is compared with the administrative hassles.  He didn’t want any such bondage and he refused it. The colleague who was next to him in the seniority list got the post.  In my long teaching experience I heard many people who wanted to get rid of their H.O.D.’s chair, but when the turn came they couldn’t prevent themselves from grabbing it. In my teaching life I have seen only one faculty to refuse the post of H.O.D.  That professor is a happy person in true sense. In all the spheres of his life his vision is clear. If you understand your ambition and if it is optimal then only you can enjoy your life and you can be happy in true sense. The main obstacle to happiness in confused state of mind and dual mentality. Unless these two things are not written off the rays of happiness won’t peep in to your life.



71.     Your E-Mail ID and Password

In today’s world your E-Mail ID is more important even than your own identity. Have the basic computer knowledge and sharpen it time to time. Generally people keep their mail ID in a very crude way.  As for example a man named John Fletcher may have an E-Mail ID jf@gmail.com, but if you just change it tojolly_fletcher@gmail.com, then the ID will have a live into it. Your ID must touch others heart. Your mail ID should be such that, the ID itself must be a cause of pleasure for others while remembering it or typing it.  The recipient of your mail should be touched by your mail ID. Once I had a mail ID. It was soothing_zephyr@rediffmail.com. Many people liked this ID and I needed to explain the meaning of zephyr to some of them. Once one of my friends requested me to compose an E-Mail ID for him. He was an optometrist by profession. I made a very touching mail ID for him. His ID is visionmymission@yahoo.co.in
Just like your mail ID your password must also be very touching to your heart. It must be very sophisticated. A soothing mail ID touches others heart and a beautiful password touches your inner being.
In this world of rat race day-by-day people are becoming more and more forgetful and for that reason they make their password very simple and at the same time very crude. Many of them use their surnames, cell phone numbers, landline numbers and date of birth as their passwords. How crude it is!
I suggest you to keep the password in such a way so that it touches your heart. Let it be the name of your best friend. Let the password be the name of some one whom you love  most.. It may be your child, father, brother, wife, fiance or even your small puppy. Through your password your beloved will be visible within your mind whenever you type it. It is good for health and mind.  It will soothe your inner being. Many people (especially in western countries) keep the photographs of the family members below the glass of their table in the office. In India in office if you do that initially people will laugh at you but gradually they will realize the importance of it. At the end of days work everyone becomes homesick; because they want to see their family members. Here also you are doing the same thing by placing their photograph under the glass of your table. If you do that you may look at the innocent smile of your near and dear ones whenever you feel.  This is done for being charged internally. However stressed you are, whenever you see the face of your child your stress reduces. Because you love your child. Technologically we are being advanced day by day, but the eternal truths are unchanged. One of them is love of a father for his daughter. Love is th prerequisite for being happy. Am I correct or wrong? It’s you who will decide whether I am saying correct or wrong.


82.There is no Beauty in Duty

Forced imposition of wrong vocation is one of the major reasons, due to which most of the people in this world can’t enjoy their work, they don’t have the test of job satisfaction and for the same reason they never get any type of pleasure in the duty assigned to them. They do it mechanically. They take the work given as a task and want to get rid of it at their earliest. While doing with a half-hearted mind they commit series of mistakes. They never find any beauty in their duty.
Once in a nursing home three nurses were feeding three children. All of them were asked by me the same question. My question was, ‘Hello sister, what are you doing?’ I asked them to have an idea about the different human psychology of three persons who are in the same profession. The first sister replied in an irritated way, ‘Who are you? Can’t you see what I am doing?’ The second one replied, ‘Sir, I am discharging my duties.’ Lastly the third lady replied, ‘Sir, the child is hungry; I am the substitute of his mother for the time being. I am playing the role of a mother.’
Just look at the difference of the statements made by three ladies who are in the same profession. The difference in their thinking process can be very easily analyzed from these replies. Is it not thought provoking? The person, who does any kind of job against his will, remains dissatisfied and unhappy through out the life. In this incident the first nurse is the most unhappy and the third one is the happiest from the point of view of job satisfaction.
In the third world countries due to huge unemployment nearly ninety percent of the people end their lives in misery and they never get the job satisfaction. I personally know a person (he was my elder brother’s classmate in 1971) who was a very good painter but ended his life as a cashier in a nationalized bank. Last time when I visited my native place in 2005 I met him suddenly in the local vegetable market. His looked very aged and he overlooked me. He was on the verge of retirement. I gently tapped his shoulder from back and within fraction of a second he recognized me. When I asked him about his first love painting he was speechless for a while. Then I saw his eyes were moist with film of tears. He asked me, “Brother, do you still remember it? Since last thirty years I don’t have any touch with my first love; painting. It is more than thirty long years I didn’t touch even a brush. After getting the job there was series of transfers along with heavy workloads. Silently the distance with painting went on increasing and today there is no relation except the golden memory covered with layers of pathos.”
He invited me in his house in the same evening. In the evening I alone visited his house. It was as it is, as if an eight year old boy (none else than me) was entering his drawing room in 1971 with his elder brother. His house was near the railway station.
After couple of minutes he took me below the staircase and opened a very big iron trunk and I was shocked. All his old paintings were kept within that trunk and many of them were partially damaged due to the attack of white ants. The scene was so tragic! I witnessed the first love of a person in buried condition. He started sobbing like a small child. Repeatedly he was saying, “Today even if I want I can’t create anything, because my creativity is lost with time. Being a cashier I counted money for thirty long years. I became a machine; no more creativity is left within me. Secondly the vigor and energy of the youth are no more present. My parents were aware of my creativity, but they are no more and my wife and son don’t even recognize this. They forced me to put everything within the trunk, because they feel if these paintings are mounted on the walls it would have spoiled the interior decoration of the house. For my wife these paintings are nothing but the hackneyed obsession of an unemployed youth of 1970.” I was simply speechless.
The present generation is moved by animation not by true painting of a creative person. Life is changing in fast pace. Life is changing with each passing moment. We have to accept that. But at the same time we must not allow the streams of our hobby to dry completely. Only your hobby can make you internally happy. If a person just pursues his hobby in spite of all odds he will be engaged with a creativity and that creativity will lead him to happiness.Once you are separated from your hobby you are mentally dead.
For most of the people their job is a task given to them and as long as they consider it as a task they can’t derive enjoyment out of it. Similarly as long as a student considers a subject only as a subject, there will be no pleasure in reading that. But however hard a subject may be, if you uncondition yourself and treat it as a storybook you will certainly have much progress. It is my personal experience. While reading a book never count the pages. Take the reading in easy stride and consider it as a journey in a smooth road. Whenever you feel tired then take a small break and start again. Before starting any work don’t fix the destination. Only the gates of your mind need to be opened all the time. Love your work, you won’t feel bore. Most of the time we can’t change the work because we are all after money at the cost of our job satisfaction. Many senior officers and managers wanted to be faculties in universities, but due to the craze of power, position and money they were forced to change their path.
In your chosen field even if you get few hundred dollars less it is O.K. It will soothe your inner being from inside. A job which you don’t like, there if you even get $2000 more per month, is of no use. As the cost of getting few amount of money you will spend your whole life. Have you ever thought of it? If you can’t leave your present job immediately then in leisure at least pursue your hobby to keep you mentally engaged in a positive way. That too will also make you happy. Have some creativity. A taciturn old lady used to make sweaters. It was not her livelihood; she used to do it because that work made her engaged and happy. Don’t have barren life. Pursue the hobby you like most and devote at least one hour per day for that; happiness will come automatically.


86.                        Be Loving, Be Caring, Be Sharing

Now a days these words are very much in use. Mainly when we see a beauty contest of beauty pageants we often come across these words. These words are used without even understanding the depth of them. These noble words are used at random for getting awards and going ahead. At the end of all the rounds in a competition arranged for the beauty pageants very few participants are short listed for the final. A panel of judge interviews them and most of the participants use the words loving, caring and sharing while giving the answers of the questions asked by the judges.
A truly loving, caring and sharing person never makes a marketing of these holy words for his or her own benefit. They never say that they want to be loving, caring and sharing. A loving person never says he wants to love, by loving others he proves that he is a loving person. Sir David Hare took care of his student when the student was attacked by small pox. Ultimately the student recovered from small pox but Sir David Hare died of small pox. This is the burning example of caring but how many of us know the name of Sir David Hare and aware of his great sacrifice. It is very natural. All the time the greatest sacrifices of the world were made in deep silence. Truly good persons are all the time in the back stage. They never come in front of the audience and they don’t want cheap publicity.
There are two kinds of persons. They first group cook for the whole day and the second group is very cunning. They show their interest in serving the food. In the forefront the people who serve the food get the credit and the actual cooks remain in the darkness of the kitchen. With each passing days the second type of people are increasing and the real people are reducing in this world. Even before fifty years people didn’t know acting. But in the present era even husband and wife act with each other and none of them understand that. But when one of them becomes the victim of some dreaded disease then he realizes that his partner was acting. It becomes too late.
In Coimbatore one couple was there and they were very famous for their strong bonding of their conjugal relation.  After twenty-eight years of their marriage the wife became paralytic and the husband started living with another lady in the same house in front of his beloved. This is the crux of human relation.
In my house a very poor girl used to come everyday for seeing the cartoon in the cartoon channel. She used to sit with my daughter for one to one and half hour in the drawing room. She was from the adjacent building. Once I gave her a pastry but for a long time she didn’t touch it. But from her eyes it was clear that she wanted to have it. When I inquired she replied, “My brother is there in the house, he too loves pastry. May I take it to home to share with him? Without giving him I never take anything. He too follows the same thing.” I was crestfallen by the simple reply of a poor girl of four years old. What a great values she learnt from her brother! I witnessed the true caring attitude from a very close angle. It was from the core of the heart of a child, it was not the commercialization of the word ‘caring’.
I immediately rushed to the nearby cake shop and purchased half a dozen pastries for that girl who was the burning example of how to be a caring person.


90.                                          What is Simplicity

Very wide vision is required to understand simplicity. Giving a simple example can clear the meaning of simplicity. Once in a village of West Bengal (a state in the eastern part of India) a tribal person killed his wife out of rage and anger. They had a small daughter of six years. Obviously the man was behind the bar and after the trial death sentence was given by the judge. He was put to a special egg shaped cell and few days were remaining before his date of execution. His date of execution was approaching very fast. His cell was at the extreme corner of the corridor. One day the jailor was in round and stood in front of his cell. The tribal man earnestly requested, “ Babu, Phansi Fhansi ja dibi diye de,jadi aaro kichu sasti dibi to de, amar choto baccha ta amar path cheye base  acche, otake  paser barite rekhe asechi, kato mas haye gyalo amra dujane dujanke dekhini; antata bachhatar jannye amake bari jete dibi to? Phansir par amake taratari barir jannye raona hate habe je  babu.”
(Sir, Hang me, if you want to give some more punishment give it, my little daughter is waiting for me, I kept her with my neighbour, its months together we didn’t see each other, will you not let me go home at least for my child? Sir, after the execution gets over I have to start early for my home.) 
     
Can there be any example of simplicity simpler than the above one? At least I don’t know. The crux of simplicity is that; a simple man doesn’t know he is simple. The moment he realizes that he starts becoming complex.
In my life I heard many people to say about my English. They commented frankly. Many of my friends said, ‘Your English is very simple. How do you write such simple English?’ I replied, “My dear, since my knowledge is less for that it is simple. Basically I am a technical person. Let me do an M.A. in English, after that I won’t be able to express in a simple way.” Regarding this thing let me narrate one true incident. Once in a village there was a barber and he used to run his small salon with his son. Once one man came with an abscess and requested the barber’s son to remove it. The son did it and fortunately the man was cured. After the few years the son of the barber went to Calcutta to have his graduation in medicine. After completing his MBBS he returned to the village and used to help his father every evening in the saloon. One day a person came with some small eruption in his cheeks and he came for shaving. The son refused to shave him. The same person, who removed the abscess, denied handling an eruption. Because previously he was ignorant and he was simple. After learning medicine he became qualified and education sucked his simplicity and the mode of thoughts became complex and professional.
Even in case of food many costly and rich dishes in five star hotels are not mouth watering but the simple ‘chat’ ( a popular fast food among Indians)by the roadside attracts you. The basic reason is the simple preparation of it.
I took care of one thing. I always do that which is easily understandable by the common people in and around me. I never forget that I have to be in the public to influence the mass. For that the expressions have to be simple.
Once in a class I was explaining a very simple differential equation. One student asked me, ‘Sir, why you are explaining such a simple thing?’ I replied, “My boy, all the students are not intelligent like you. They need to understand the simple things. For them I am explaining such a simple thing in a simpler way.”
If you understand simple things in a simpler way it will be easy for you to develop complex thing in more complex ways. Simple things are like simple tense in English Grammar. I saw students whose concept of simple present tense is not clear but they are dealing with narration, gerund, voice and complex sentences. If you can’t digest water, how would you digest milk? So in every sphere of life we must give maximum importance to simple things. Before doing any wrong thing in life we receive a red signal from the inner mind. That signal is nothing but the representative of a simple mind. If every time we listen to that signal then we will be able to lead a simple life, on the contrary if we don’t obey the message of your mind then we develop complexity. If we lead simple life happiness will inevitably be a part of our life. We need to drop all the false vanities. Live for the pleasure of your own inner being; don’t live for showing to others that you are great.


95.Everyone Hankers for a Piece of Peace

Long back I saw a book. In the book one picture was there. It is vivid in my mind. One king was seen in a genuflected posture in front of God and God was showering all the things desired by the king from a metallic container. He was pouring wealth, health, fame, success and all the relevant things, which are generally wanted by a person. When everything was poured then the king found still something was remaining in the container. He begged for that. The God smiled and replied, ‘My son, it is not given, it is to be attained by you.’ The king curiously asked, ‘Master, may I know what is the thing not given to me and preserved by you?’ Then God replied, ‘My son, It is peace, and it is a state of your mind. It can’t be given. It is to be attained by you.’
Happiness and peace are nothing but the two sides of the same coin. Happiness inside is considered as peace and peace exposed is nothing but happiness. More precisely you may say happiness in nothing but peace in visible condition. Every one hankers after happiness and peace. One needs to stay away from the materialistic world and excessive greed for having peace and happiness.


99.Money can’t Create a Rainbow

The colony where I do stay is divided to several sectors. In earlier days I used to stay in W- sector and presently I stay in S- sector. I know all the people of W-sector, because I stayed there for eleven long years.  All the children of W-sector are the friends of my daughter. W-sector is the silent witness of our unceasing struggle. In spite of that I didn’t distance my self from creativity. It is the only thing, which acts as a soothing balm after days struggle. A poor man can be happy by rich imagination and in all the sphere of my life I followed the same strategy. I saw many dark and pathetic sides of life. I lost my mother at the age of twelve. Before that she was bed ridden for long time. I saw continuous fight and quarrel in our joint family since childhood. The boys of my society and school tortured me during my childhood for my silent nature. For not compromising with my choice of teaching I left more than one good job, but didn’t compromise. For that I had to face very acute financial crunch. These are the few examples of the darker sides of my life. But in spite of all odds I didn’t allow the flame of creativity within me to extinguish.
Few days back my daughter was returning from her tuition class and on the way she met a small girl of W-sector. That small girl never experienced the feeling in a lift in a high-rise building. She innocently expressed her long cherished desire to have the feeling in a lift. Immediately my daughter took her to an adjacent society and four to five times they went up to the sixth floor and again came to the ground floor. This is nothing but the example of a pure childhood enjoyment. When my daughter returned and narrated the incident to me, I was very happy. I wanted to share this incidence with my readers. How simple enjoyment can be? Will that small kid ever forget her first experience in a lift? Middle class people remember the experience of their first flight. For a poor girl the experience in a lift in a posh society can be compared with the experience of first air travel by a middle class. When my daughter was describing her feelings it was really worth listening.
I all the time listen very carefully to the children. There are few reasons behind this.
i)     The seniors rarely care them, when they want to express anything.
ii)     They are the representatives of God.
iii)     They never tell lies
iv)     They are innocent and live in the world of fantasy
v)     They don’t have give and take policy
vi)     I like the company of children


Only the children can truly enjoy the beauty of a rainbow. Once I was traveling from Nagpur to Calcutta by train and my wife and daughter accompanied me. On the way there was few spells of rains and suddenly a beautiful rainbow was visible in the horizon. The train was between Bilaspur and Raipur in the state of Chattisgad. After couple of minutes the rainbow disappeared.
A gentleman was sleeping in the upper berth. When he got up, came to know about the beautiful rainbow from the discussion of the co-passengers. He lamented. He was a nature lover. He silently replied, “God knows when I shall have the opportunity to see a rainbow. For a long time I didn’t see a rainbow. I can’t manufacture it though I am an industrialist. Because money can’t create a rainbow. God doesn’t take any order.”


100.Give a Ride to your Chauffeur

Have you ever said ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Good Night’ to your servant? Probably not. Just experience it once and see the difference in their attitude. In this connection I would like to narrate one incident. Once one vice president of one MNC was coming to Pune from Mumbai along with me. He is my batch mate of my under graduate class. His well-trained and smart personal chauffeur was driving the car with very high speed. Both of us were discussing about my recently published book on career management entitled ‘YOU CAN SCORE MORE.’
By the evening we reached Lonavala and my friend told me, ‘My driver is quite tired, he must have some rest.’ After saying so he simply asked his driver to enjoy a small nap at the back of the car and both of us occupied the front seats. My friend drove from Lonavala to Pune and he was in a very good mood. After couple of minutes journey from Lonavala he drew my attention and I looked at the mirror of car. I found a tired person in deep slumber.
Generally all the time we see a higher authority to depend on the lower staffs, but I had the scope to see a chauffeur of a vice president to depend on his boss. My friend could judge the body language of his chauffeur. Have you ever thought of it; that a vice president of an MNC is driving and his chauffeur is sleeping with his consent? It is reality, and realities are truth and truth is the source of true happiness.


105.You are the Author of Your Life

If you are requested to write about yourself you should be in a position to receive good feedback about you from your inner being. Be kind to every one who meets you. It will be very much clear to you from the example given below.
Generally I start my days with few pages of writing for some of my manuscripts and it soothes my soul and for the whole day that small creativity feeds my inner being to be happy for the rest of the day. It is my personal observation that if anybody starts his day with his most preferred thing i.e. ‘hobby’ then for the rest of the day he becomes placid with others. Even in the chilled winter morning I report to my writing desk sharp at 5.30 in the morning and while doing my work I listen to the music in V-TV.
One day while writing I listened to some peculiar sound and I ignored it. Again I got the same sound and again ignored it. But when the same sound came for the third time I became curious. What I saw was unbelievable. A big lizard was trying to adjust itself over the warm voltage stabilizer of the television for having some warmth in that cold winter morning. It was affected by the severity of the cold. The incident touched my heart. Even a lizard had to struggle for some warmth in a winter morning.
You must have observed in any stabilizer or UPS for the smooth radiation and exhaust of the generated heat some alternate slots are made on the body of the stabilizer or UPS. For the lizard the difficult thing was to control its tail, because the more it was trying more and more the tail was going inside the slots.
Next day morning after occupying my desk I covered the slots by a small piece of blanket (got by me from the old garbage of the house). Though the lizard was absent. Then I forgot that. After couple of days in the wee hours while writing the last few chapters of a book suddenly I remembered the incident of the lizard. I went to the stabilizer and found the same lizard was very comfortably taking rest over the stabilizer and the tail was dangling, but due to the care taken by me it was not arrested between the slots. These are the very small incidents of life but if you go on adding these small incidents you will get the true picture of life dotted with several touching incidents.
One needs to take care of everybody in and around him. Whether it is your old parents, a school kid, a glossy leaf of a tree or a lizard in quest of warmth.
Never be dishonest to yourself. If you are dishonest, you may befool the whole world but in front of your own conscience you will be small forever. All the time we must prefer to have a honourable defeat than to have victory with dishonesty.
Losing honourably indicates lack of preparation but winning by illegal means indicates lack of ethics. Wining without honesty is not a win at all. With each passing year the burning of your soul will increase. Its you, who can only see the inner mind of yours. As the old age advances the guilty feelings increases. Why not to have a decent life style?
We get only one life, why not to spend it in a proper way?
Once I visited a dermatologist of Calcutta for some skin-ailment of one of my relatives. The doctor was yet to come. He was considered as one of the best dermatologists of Asia. He was globally famous and his field of expertise was leprosy.
The whole visiting room was filled by innumerable patients and their relatives. Most of the visitors were very good looking ladies. From the appearance there was no sign of any skin disorder or skin disease. I had a doubt, whether they were really patients or not? When I enquired with one of the persons present there I came to know most of the ladies were from well-established families of Calcutta and they came for their periodic check up for the leprosy at its budding stages. Some of them were at the initial stages of different kinds of leprosy and few of them were quite critical. This is the colour of life.
From outside it is of one type and from inside it is completely different. Your character should be such that from in side and outside you should be the same personality. There must not be any hidden thing in your life. We care for the society but rarely care for our inner beings. For being important to yourself the most important thing is transparency in life style and your mode of working.
Once in a medical shop the shop owner gave me fifty rupees extra by mistake. Immediately I returned it. I was accompanied by one of my old Bengali friends. He commented, ‘It is good you returned, otherwise a day will come when you will lose rupees hundred.’ I replied, “ Your concept is different. I returned it, because I couldn’t accept it. I listened to my inner voice. That’s all. My inner being prevented me from accepting rupees fifty given extra to me by mistake.”
So all of us need to be very clear to ourselves. After all we are the authors of our lives.